Thursday, January 27, 2005

“What is the effect of the intensified violence surrounding the election on ordinary Iraqis? What does it mean to be holding this election after decades of tyranny? Is it right to be going ahead with the elections at this time? Will the election bring a brighter future for Iraq or will it bring yet more strife?

We will also publish contributions from non-Iraqis to find out about their lives in Iraq.

The log will run for two weeks starting on 24 January, with new contributors joining the log as it progresses.

The BBC Host in this log is the BBC News website's Middle East team. The role of the host is to add context and explanation where necessary and point readers to external sites that add to the picture of life in Iraq.

This is not a weblog or blog in the pure sense. The log is mediated in that an editor, the BBC Host, will read all posts and the comments they generate before publication.

About Me

I'm sixty, and for good or ill the civil rights movement and the Viet Nam war are seared into the center of who I am. I graduated from Public School in Chicago, and went to Phillips Academy at Andover, like G.W. Bush, like Bremer, "Scooter" Libby was a classmate ('68). I was pro war in Viet Nam until Christmas Vacation of '67. I was watching the news and an Army Captain was describing how they'd trapped some Viet Cong in a tunnel. When no one would come out, they bulldozed earth over the air vents. Then some hours later they started pulling bodies out of the tunnel, all women and children. It was the first and only time I ever threw up watching the news, but I've come close since then.